Preview May’s Instant Game Collection

Next month PlayStation Plus members will receive several games as part of their membership including Stick it to the Man! on PS4, Puppeteer, PES 2014 and Skullgirls Encore on PlayStation 3, and Limbo and Surge Deluxe on PS Vita. Several of these titles are a visual treat, boasting distinct, vibrant art styles.

Stick it to the Man! is a mix of point and click adventure puzzles plus a bit of platforming, and the animation-inspired art style is really slick. You’ll solve problems as Ray, a regular guy who wakes up one day with a giant pink hand floating out of his head. This pink hand gives him the ability to read people’s minds and grab stickers from their thoughts to use in the world.

On PS3 members will receive three very different titles: the award-winning, uber-charming platformer Puppeteer, the popular soccer simulator Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 and the indie-darling fighter with a crazy roster, Skullgirls Encore. Puppeteer is a visual treat that follows the story of a boy named Kutaro who gets turned into a puppet by the evil Moon Bear King (great name) and loses his head. After the transformation Kutaro must borrow other heads and use his fancy new pair of scissors to navigate the world and return home (preferably with his original head). Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 allows you to play as your favorite soccer team and pit them against teams from around the globe. The improved FOX Engine means that the soccer ball will be much more fluid than previous PES games. The 2D fighter Skullgirls Encore houses a bunch of wacky characters, each with their own unique attack style. The Encore version has new systems, balance updates, stages and music and a few new characters to mess around with.

PS Vita owners will get to download Surge Deluxe, an intense color-matching title and the critically-acclaimed puzzle platformer Limbo. The action in Surge Deluxe heats up quickly as you chain together color-coordinated blocks. The faster you move the more likely you are to be successful — taking too long means the pressure will build up in the pipes surrounding the screen and BOOM! Game over. If you haven’t played Limbo yet you’ll be in for a real treat when it comes to the Instant Game Collection for PS Vita. Limbo’s haunting atmosphere, intriguing puzzles and vague narrative make this a game you’ll remember for a long time.

May PlayStation Plus Preview

Free for PS Plus members

On an ordinary day, hard hat tester Ray has a bizarre accident and wakes up with a giant pink spaghetti arm sticking out of his brain, giving him extraordinary mind-reading powers. Ray can suddenly change the world with stickers, transforming his paper universe by tearing it, folding it and using the crazy stickers he finds (along with his awesome new powers) to solve mind-boggling puzzles! Sadly, Ray doesn’t have much time to get to grips with his new-fangled psychic abilities. Instead, he’s on the run from ‘The Man’ for a crime he didn’t commit. Can you help Ray out of this sticky situation?

Free for PS Plus members

One dark moonlit night, a young boy named Kutaro was carried away by the maleficent Moon Bear King to a black castle where the unlucky lad was transformed into a puppet. Kutaro displeased the terrible tyrant, who devoured the boy’s wooden head and cast away his body. But the headless hero was not alone, for he had discovered a very special pair of scissors to help him on his harrowing adventure to find his head, and his way home.

Free for PS Plus members

Experience a whole new ball game with KONAMI’s PES 2014. The stunning new FOX Engine has been combined with a revolutionary soccer system that puts the ball at the heart of the action for the first time. Every element has been rebuilt and now features all-new physics systems, custom team and player AI and a huge leap forward in animations and atmosphere.

Skullgirls Encore (PS3)

Free for PS Plus members

Skullgirls Encore is an update to the original Skullgirls, a fast-paced 2-D fighting game that puts players in control of fierce warriors in an extraordinary Dark Deco world. Building on its established game systems tried and tested by veteran and casual fighting game fans alike, Skullgirls Encore includes new systems, new stages and music, balance adjustments, gameplay tweaks and more. All brought to you with the same high quality Skullgirls and Lab Zero Games are known for!

Free for PS Plus members

A new energy source provides humanity with enormous electrical power, but by-product materials build up fast, and must be constantly cleared to keep pressure levels in check. Shatter the dangerous by-products by routing electrical surges between matching blocks, and then vent pressure in huge blasts to buy you more time! Surge Deluxe puts sizzling electrical energy at your fingertips!

Free for PS Plus members

If you’ve got feedback on PlayStation Plus make sure you take the poll above as well as leave a comment below. To chat about all things PlayStation, including this update, you can head over to the PlayStation Community Forums. You’ll also find other topics you can contribute your thoughts to, or you can start your own discussion.

I’m a Vita owner and I got PS Plus several months ago because it looked promising, and while I love my Vita I can’t say I have benefitted from my PS Plus subscription for it in terms of the free games. I have enjoyed some of the sales we got (mostly in December and January) but the PS Plus free games haven’t appealed to me.

Also it is completely reasonable to voice your dissatisfaction with a service you are paying for, which last I checked, I am.

@97 – I think the problem isn’t a sense of entitlement or a sense that every game must be the kind of game each individual person wants to play. I think the problem is that people see European PS Plus offerings giving out full retails for vita while we get nothing but indies and 5+ year old psp games in the States. Not to mention what we do see on Vita for the collection amount to a lot of phone style games. We expect more from a console quality handheld.

PS4 plus lineup has been nothing but ports of old games and indies. We haven’t gotten a single retail even though one was promised to be there for the launch of the console. And while the PS3 is offering a decent game Puppeteer, the other offering is a soccer game and quite frankly most people in North America couldn’t care less about soccer. If that game had been offered in the European regions where there’s actually a decent fanbase for the sport it would have been better received and if one of their offerings was put in the States in it’s place I think a lot of people would have been happier

Sigh, it seriously looks like I should just stop buying games on PSN, yet another month where I’ve already bought games that are now free, but haven’t necessarily played them yet. This is becoming a regular thing, especially with indie titles. I’ve probably spent $200 in the past year on games that have since either ended up free on Plus, or have been heavily discounted in PSN sales, and then later end up on Plus.

Nice to see that some half decent indie titles are continuing to show up for free, it just makes me question why I bothered paying for them a few months ago.

I’m usually not one to comment on these blogs, but this preview is so awful I had to voice my concerns. As someone who primarily utilizes PS+ for the Vita why in the world is the disparity between game titles between EU and US so large here. We get two mediocre indie titles while EU gets two full fledged releases. Not only this, these are actually GOOD titles for once (Muramasa Rebirth and Everybody’s Golf.) If I was a PS3 and PS4 user in addition I would be triply as disappointed.

With the news of expanded PS1/PSP game downloads silently discontinued recently I would be curious to know what Sony’s stance is on the Vita. Why is there so little effort being placed on Vita users? We shouldn’t have to feel like second class citizens on a gaming platform of all things. The recent announcements of localizations are indeed great, but to turn around and put out disappointment after disappointment is just embarrassing.

I’m glad I downloaded Suikoden onto my Vita while I had the chance. Wish I went ahead and did the same for Valkyria Chronicles 2….

So you’ve proven that such a thing is possible. What benefit is it to you or your customers to restrict their access?

I usually am a fan of what you do, and find workarounds to direct downloads (and use my PS3), but the fact that you showed us you essentially just flipped a switch to turn this on and off for us….is well….kind of a kick in the balls.

As for the Plus offerings, I’m fine with them all, so no complaints there. Just flip that switch for direct downloads back on for us, please? You don’t have to offer to sell the items in the store, just let us pull them off our download list again, please!

I usually don’t complain because I don’t have motive to do so…but why are you guys giving Puppeteer for free?…this is so stupid…although I’m glad that more people will get to play that masterpiece that without doubt is one of the best 2013 games….but in the other hand Puppeteer needs support…giving it for free,damn.Now I’m still trying to believe you guys are giving a soccer game for free….this is some straight bulls**t.

Only game for me this month will be Surge,been wanting to try that game for quite a while and I’m glad with it.Looks like my backlog will finally stop to grow in the Plus side.Thanks Sony.

Seriously? These are a bunch of games that would be the follow up to the big game of the month. Like last month Arkham City and you get Stealth Inc. and Mickey. So for May you remove the big game and leave us with a mid level and bottom of the barrel soccer. SOCCER!?! This isn’t Brazil PS Plus. NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA….those are sports that are popular in North America….Not soccer. How about in June you give us cricket? May is officially the worst month on Plus this year. You made it 4 months before the NA Plus team completely slacked off and showing that they have no idea what the majority of gamers are playing. Soccer….you should be ashamed of yourself and owe us an apology.

Surprised to see all the complaints about next month’s line up. I guess people are expecting a Tomb Raider/Bioshock Infinite/Borderlands 2 type of entry every month. Well for me personally, Puppeteer is that entry. I’ve been wanting to play that game big time. Limbo is a welcome addition as well.

Maybe I’m just easy to please, or I keep my expectations in check, but if there are 1 or 2 quality games I’m even remotely interested in each month, I’m a happy camper.

puppeteer was also on sale, seriously stop putting games on sale and then release them on ps+ a month later. I’m probably gonna stop buying games that are in sale just because of that. I bought a year of ps+ and the lineup for vita has been horrible. EU always gets better games. it’s like you guys don’t even listen to us when it comes to ps+

It’s been about 4 years since I’ve watched or cared about the soccerballs, and I bet I’m gonna watch a bunch of soccerball matches this year, so having a free soccerball game on my PS3 is probably going to satiate that mid-World Cup need to play a soccerball videogame.

A bunch of ungrateful people in here. If you complain about EU getting better stuff, then buy a damn European Vita and PS Plus service already. As for this months US titles, I am very happy about Stick It To The Man and Limbo on Vita. Puppeteer is a wonderful game for those who haven’t tried it.

I’m SO HAPPY that WE DON’T GET MURAMASA as a Playstation+ free game. Muramasa is such a great game to be free. All the people that is angry because we didn’t get this game as Europe should be ashamed for not buying the game, seriousy BUY THE GAME if you really want it and don’t be waiting for the game to be free.

#97 use a better argument than call others a kid. No one is complaining based on personal taste. People are just getting tired receiving indies/tab/mobile games on vita, while EU and Asia get REAL VITA GAMES, like muramasa, MotoGP, Slycooper, Dynasty Warriors… they are not similar but are worth paying or playing.

compared to the past few instant collection’s. this one sucks bad!!! what is going on over there at sony? you guys are losing your mojo man!!! don’t get me wrong i’m a loyal PlayStation fan. but you guys really dropped the ball on may. A SOCCER GAME?! COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a PS3 user, I’m happy with the offerings, I would never buy PES or Skullgirls but for free, I would gladly try them. Now as a Vita user, I’m disappointed there is such a disparity between the EU and US offerings in the past few months.

This is what SCEA has taught me about regions, games, Plus, and buying games on PSN.

Europe will almost always get better Plus games and sales than North America.

AAA titles that are popular, or published by Sony studios will stay at full price without a sale and will be overpriced compared to all other retailers long after their release.

AAA titles that don’t sell well will be full price and then a month later will be on a flash 50% off sale followed by lower pricing every few months. There’s a chance that these titles will end up on Plus.

AAA Vita titles will be full price and will then go on sale with a lower price each time. There’s a good chance that these titles will end up on Plus.

Indie titles will be full price and then go on sale, repeatedly, with a lower price each time. It’s likely that these games will end up on Plus. Examples include Limbo, Brothers, & Lone Survivor. All of these games have been offered at extremely low sale prices within the past few months, and all are currently available on Plus.

My conclusion is that, unless a game is AAA and popular, you should not buy it day 1 because it’s almost guaranteed that it will be on sale soon and on Plus a few months later.

I swiched from the 360 to the PS4 because of Sony’s focus on the game-playing aspects of a video game console and the awesome games that PS Plus offered on the PS3 and Vita. Lately I feel like the PS Plus offerings are becoming just as crappy, if not worse, than the Games for Gold program where they were tossing out games like Happy Wars and the original Rainbow Six. The Vita has been getting absolute junk lately and the PS4 has yet to step up to the plate with something that keeps my interest for more than a week or two other than Mercenary Kings.

I can say with quite a bit of confidence that I am less than impressed with my switch thus far.

Hey no point in complaining about buying games and then them becoming free on plus

I brought Borderlands 2 day 1 because I wanted to play it and it was worth every penny.
I brought puppeteer when it was super cheap weeks ago and haven’t touched it I should’ve played it
I’ve wanted to buy Skullgirls for a year and now its coming to plus so

You just have to roll with the punches but they do need some type of point system for buying things using plus discounts so we don’t end up in your situation make us feel our purchase was valuable in some form

Once again the EU has better games than the US Playstation plus store, we get the indie game Limbo (already came out on PS3 IGC!!) and Surge Deluxe while EU gets Muramasa Rebirth a full fledge psvita game! WTF! How do you expect people to support the system and buy PS+ for it when you give out such lousy games compared to the others PSN markets on the Vita.

@142 Not complaining so much as just questioning why I bother buying anything but popular AAA titles, since odds are everything else will end up repeatedly on sale, and then eventually on Plus. I could save myself a pile of $$ by just waiting.

Also, there’s a pattern that Sony tends to follow, especially with Indie games. Full price, half price, dirt cheap, Plus. Better to build your backlog for free than by paying it seems.